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Uber is not a monopoly and the barriers to entry are lower than people think. Now that the idea is proven, there's nothing stopping more competitors from build

by ef4 12y ago

Uber is not a monopoly and the barriers to entry are lower than people think. Now that the idea is proven, there's nothing stopping more competitors from building local app driven services to compete with them. If you can organize thousands of drivers, you shouldn't bother with a union. You should just have them collectively fund their own driver owned app and compete with uber instead of asking for crumbs.

nateparrott 12y ago
Creating a driver-owned replacement for Uber's service could certainly work to give drivers a better deal, but unionizing existing drivers is a better means to that end. Uber certainly adds value—they've got a good app, and it's great that I can land in a new city and know the same service will work the same way.
- rch 12y ago
  If the drivers had an effective app, then they could provide an api for Uber, Lyft, or whatever brand to route rides into. The rate paid to the driver, possibly combined with convenience and other qualitative factors, would naturally determine placement. There would still be value in building a brand that customers recognize, but the overall system might be more sustainable.
phkahler 12y ago
>> Uber is not a monopoly and the barriers to entry are lower than people think. That is actually a large part of the problem. Competition from Lyft will force Uber to lower fares. Competition from a driver-union-app would force them to be even lower. At some point, lowering fares will directly hurt uber. Prior to that point, it's hurting the drivers because uber doesn't care at all about drivers costs, and drivers are either not good at taking that into account, or have been screwed by falling fares.
- kazagistar 12y ago
  Presumably, if prices are driven down enough by competition, then price vs quality differentiation. Cheaper prices vs better/nicer drivers.
snowwrestler 12y ago
You might be underestimating the value of brand awareness. Sure, it might not be hard to write a ride allocation app that works like Uber. But getting a large number of people to change their habits to use the new service instead of Uber will be hard. Just getting them to be consistently aware of this new option will be expensive. As a first mover, Uber benefited from enormous amounts of earned press. An Uber clone today will not get so much free coverage, and will have to spend money on marketing. That is a significant barrier to entry.

by ef4 12y ago

nateparrott 12y ago

Creating a driver-owned replacement for Uber's service could certainly work to give drivers a better deal, but unionizing existing drivers is a better means to that end. Uber certainly adds value—they've got a good app, and it's great that I can land in a new city and know the same service will work the same way.

rch 12y ago
If the drivers had an effective app, then they could provide an api for Uber, Lyft, or whatever brand to route rides into. The rate paid to the driver, possibly combined with convenience and other qualitative factors, would naturally determine placement. There would still be value in building a brand that customers recognize, but the overall system might be more sustainable.

phkahler 12y ago

>> Uber is not a monopoly and the barriers to entry are lower than people think. That is actually a large part of the problem. Competition from Lyft will force Uber to lower fares. Competition from a driver-union-app would force them to be even lower. At some point, lowering fares will directly hurt uber. Prior to that point, it's hurting the drivers because uber doesn't care at all about drivers costs, and drivers are either not good at taking that into account, or have been screwed by falling fares.

kazagistar 12y ago
Presumably, if prices are driven down enough by competition, then price vs quality differentiation. Cheaper prices vs better/nicer drivers.

snowwrestler 12y ago

You might be underestimating the value of brand awareness. Sure, it might not be hard to write a ride allocation app that works like Uber. But getting a large number of people to change their habits to use the new service instead of Uber will be hard. Just getting them to be consistently aware of this new option will be expensive. As a first mover, Uber benefited from enormous amounts of earned press. An Uber clone today will not get so much free coverage, and will have to spend money on marketing. That is a significant barrier to entry.